PUCCH structure for mixed numerology

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a user equipment for a Radio Access Network. The user equipment is adapted for communicating utilizing a first transmission timing structure having a first number of symbols, and for communicating utilizing a second transmission timing structure comprising a second number of symbols. The user equipment further is adapted for receiving first signaling based on the first transmission timing structure and for transmitting acknowledgement signaling pertaining to the first signaling based on the second transmission timing structure, wherein the user equipment is adapted to start transmitting the acknowledgement signaling at a starting symbol of the second transmission timing structure, the starting symbol being determined based on a configuration of the user equipment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/SE2017/050287, filed Mar. 24, 2017, the entirety of which isincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure pertains to wireless communication technology, inparticular to 5G technology like LTE Evolution or New Radio (NR)

BACKGROUND

Currently developed wireless (radio) technology of the 5^(th) generation(5G) is aimed at supporting a large range of use case, including suchwith requirements for low latency. On the other hand, 5G technology isbeing developed to be allow flexibility in transmission timingstructures, and to utilize a wide frequency range. If carriers ofsignificantly different frequencies are being utilized, transmissiontimings may be significantly different due to the different physicalcharacteristics like bandwidth/spacing and symbol time length.

With these demands, new problems and challenges arise for example in thecontext of ARQ/HARQ processes.

SUMMARY

It is an object of this disclosure to provide approaches allowingsuitable adaption to latency demand even in the presence of flexibletransmission timing structures and/or in the context of largedifferences in frequency of carriers used. The approaches describedherein are particularly useful in the context of NR Radio AccessTechnology/Networks (NR RAT/RAN). Thus, a network node may in particulara gNB (or eNB in some cases). Accordingly, a user equipment, UE, for aRadio Access Network (RAN) is described. The user equipment is adaptedfor communicating utilizing a first transmission timing structurecomprising a first number of symbols, and for communicating utilizing asecond transmission timing structure comprising a second number ofsymbols. The user equipment is further adapted for receiving firstsignaling based on the first transmission timing structure, and fortransmitting acknowledgement signaling pertaining to the first signalingbased on the second transmission timing structure. Transmitting theacknowledgement signaling is started at a starting symbol of the secondtransmission timing structure, the starting symbol being determinedbased on a configuration of the user equipment. The user equipment maycomprise, and/or be adapted for utilizing, processing circuitry and/orradio circuitry for receiving and/or transmitting. Radio circuitry mayin particular comprise a receiver and/or transmitter and/or transceiver.Alternatively, or additionally, the UE may comprise a receiving moduleand/or transmitting module for the corresponding receiving and/ortransmitting.

There is also disclosed a method of operating a user equipment for aRadio Access Network. The user equipment is adapted for communicatingutilizing a first transmission timing structure comprising a firstnumber of symbols, and for communicating utilizing a second transmissiontiming structure comprising a second number of symbols. The methodcomprises receiving first signaling based on the first transmissiontiming structure. The method further comprises transmittingacknowledgement signaling pertaining to the first signaling based on thesecond transmission timing structure. Transmitting the acknowledgementsignaling is started at a starting symbol of the second transmissiontiming structure, the starting symbol being determined based on aconfiguration of the user equipment.

A network node for a Radio Access Network may be considered. The networknode is adapted for communicating utilizing a first transmission timingstructure comprising a first number of symbols, and for communicatingutilizing a second transmission timing structure comprising a secondnumber of symbols. In addition, the network node is adapted forconfiguring a user equipment for starting to transmit acknowledgementsignaling pertaining to first signaling transmitted based on the firsttransmission timing structure at a starting symbol of the secondtransmission timing structure. The network node may comprise, and/or beadapted for utilizing, processing circuitry and/or radio circuitry forthe configuring, respectively for receiving and/or transmitting. Radiocircuitry may in particular comprise a receiver and/or transmitterand/or transceiver. Alternatively, or additionally, the network node maycomprise a configuring module for such configuring, respectively areceiving module and/or transmitting module for the correspondingreceiving and/or transmitting.

Also, a method of operating a network node of a Radio Access Network isdescribed. The network node is adapted for communicating utilizing afirst transmission timing structure comprising a first number ofsymbols, and for communicating utilizing a second transmission timingstructure comprising a second number of symbols. The method comprisesconfiguring a user equipment for starting to transmit acknowledgementsignaling pertaining to first signaling transmitted based on the firsttransmission timing structure at a starting symbol of the secondtransmission timing structure.

It may be considered that the network node is adapted for, and/or themethod of operating the network node comprises, transmitting the firstsignaling, and/or receiving the acknowledgement signaling.

The configuration may indicate the starting symbol, e.g. directly orindirectly, and/or implicitly or explicitly. For example, the startingsymbol number may be indicated directly (for example, as a number), orin relation to a symbol or border of the first transmission timingstructure. The starting symbol may be indirectly indicated by atransmission level indication. It may be considered that a configurationindicates one or more starting symbols in a second transmission timingstructure, e.g. indicating possible starting symbols for acknowledgementsignaling. The configuration may indicate which one of those symbols touse, e.g. based on transmission level and/or operating conditions and/orquality of service requirements. It may be considered that theconfiguration indicates, e.g. indirectly, that the next availablestarting symbol is to be used after reception of the first transmissiontiming structure, and/or the next available starting symbol useableconsidering time for processing. It may be considered that theconfiguration indicates which channel to use for the acknowledgementsignaling, e.g. PUCCH or PUSCH. Generally, a configuration may indicatea starting symbol pattern, indicating one or more starting symbolsavailable for acknowledgement signaling, e.g. providing differentopportunities for such signaling in a slot or other transmission timingstructure. A starting symbol pattern representing PUCCH opportunitiesmay be considered a PUCCH structure. It may be generally considered thatthe configured pattern extends over one or more transmission timingstructures.

It may be considered that transmitting the acknowledgement signalingcomprises utilizing a mini-slot for transmitting, in which theacknowledgement signaling is embedded. The mini-slot may cover, and/orbe associated to, at least the starting symbol for transmission, e.g. inuplink or sidelink.

The first transmission timing structure and the second transmissiontiming structure may pertain to, and/or be associated to, the same, ordifferent, carriers and/or subcarrier spacings and/or numerologies.Different carriers may be arranged such they do not share a border infrequency space, and/or that a frequency gap is between them. Thefrequency gap may be or comprise a frequency interval of at least 1 GHz,5 GHz, 10 GHz, 20 GHz or 50 GHz. Generally, the first transmissiontiming structure may be associated to a first carrier, and the secondtransmission timing structure may be associated to a second carrier. Thefirst carrier and the second carrier may be carriers of a carrieraggregation, and/or belong to the same carrier aggregation. Generally,the first carrier may be a downlink carrier, and the second carrier maybe an uplink carrier. However, variants in which the first carrier is asidelink carrier and the second carrier is also a sidelink carrier maybe considered. The sidelink carriers may be the same (e.g., in a TimeDivision Duplex, TDD, scenario), or different (e.g., in a FrequencyDivision Duplex, FDD, and/or a carrier aggregation, CA, scenario). Insome variants, the first carrier and the second carrier may be the samecarrier and/or partially overlap in frequency. In such a case, it may beconsidered that different numerologies are associated to the carriersand/or the associated transmission timing structures.

Transmitting or receiving based on a transmission timing structure maycomprise transmitting or receiving on the carrier associated to thetransmission timing structure.

The acknowledgement signaling may generally be considered to be inresponse to the (expected) first signaling, which may for example bescheduled/configured by the network node. Thus, acknowledgment signalingmay be later in time than the first signaling.

In general, a numerology and/or subcarrier spacing may indicate thebandwidth (in frequency domain) of a subcarrier of a carrier, and/or thenumber of subcarriers in a carrier and/or the numbering of thesubcarriers in a carrier. Different numerologies may in particular bedifferent in the bandwidth of a subcarrier. In some variants, all thesubcarriers in a carrier have the same bandwidth associated to them. Thenumerology and/or subcarrier spacing may be different between carriersin particular regarding the subcarrier bandwidth. A symbol time length,and/or a time length of a timing structure pertaining to a carrier maybe dependent on the carrier frequency, and/or the subcarrier spacing.

The first transmission timing structure may pertain to downlinktransmission (or sidelink transmission to be received by the UE). Thesecond transmission timing structure may pertain to uplink transmission(or sidelink transmission to be transmitted by the UE). The transmissiontiming structures may be shifted relative to each other, e.g. due tosignal traveling time. A transmission timing structure may be consideredto pertain to a certain type of communicating and/or a carrier ornumerology or subcarrier spacing if it is synchronized to the timingstructure, and/or the timing of communication is determined by thetiming structure, and/or communicated symbols are arranged in the timingstructure. The first transmission timing structure may be a slot ormini-slot. The second transmission timing structure my in particular bea slot. A slot may comprise a predetermined number of symbols, e.g. 7 or14. A mini-slot may comprise a number of symbols smaller than the numberof symbols of a slot. A transmission timing structure may cover a timeinterval of a specific length, which may be dependent on symbol timelength and/or cyclic prefix used. A transmission timing structure maypertain to and/or cover a specific time interval in a time stream, e.g.synchronized for communication.

In some variants, the first number of symbols may be smaller than thesecond number of symbols. This may in particular be the case if thetransmission timing structures pertain to the same carrier, e.g. if thefirst transmission timing structure is a mini-slot, and the secondtransmission timing structure is a slot.

The time interval associated to the first transmission timing structuremay be shorter than the time interval associated to the secondtransmission timing structure. In some variants, the number of symbolsof the first and second transmission timing structures may be the same(e.g., both may represent a slot).

It may be considered that the first transmission timing structure isembedded in, and/or overlapping, the second transmission timingstructure. Such embedding or overlapping may be considered to be in timedomain. The first transmission timing structure being embedded in thesecond transmission timing structure may refer to the symbols (allsymbols) of the first transmission timing structure being arrangedwithin the time interval associated to the second transmission timingstructure. The first transmission timing structure overlapping thesecond transmission timing structure may refer to at least one of thesymbols of the first transmission timing structure being fully or atleast partly arranged within the time interval associated to the secondtransmission timing structure. For embedding or overlapping, borders (intime domain) of the timing structures and/or borders (in time domain) ofthe symbols of the timing structures may coincide.

Generally, the starting symbol may be the first symbol in which theacknowledgement signaling is transmitted. The acknowledgment signalingmay extend (in time) over more than one symbol, covering one or moresymbols after the starting symbol. In some cases, the acknowledgementsignaling may extend beyond the second transmission timing structure,e.g. into a successive transmission timing structure.

The first signaling may generally comprise transmission of data, whichmay be associated to an acknowledgement signaling process (or more thanone such processes) and/or a data stream. The first signaling maycomprise one (e.g., if pertaining to only one process) or more dataelements or data blocks, in particular transport blocks.

The first transmission timing structure may pertain to OFDM (OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing) symbols, e.g. in NR downlink, and/orthe second transmission timing structure may pertain to OFDMA(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) or SC-FDMA (SingleCarrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) symbols, e.g. in NR uplink.In some variants, e.g. in sidelink scenarios, the first transmissiontiming structure may pertain to SC-FDMA symbols. In this context, afrequency component, respectively a use of frequency domain forinformation transport may be implied by a symbol next to its symbol timelength defining timing structures.

A transmission timing structure may have a duration (length in time)determined based on the durations of their symbols, possibly in additionto cyclic prefix/es used. The symbols of a transmission timing structuremay have the same duration, or may in some variants have differentduration.

The configuration may be based (e.g., determined by the network nodeand/or a determining module thereof) on a reliability level and/orlatency level (the term “transmission level” may be used for either or acombination of both). Such a level (or levels) may be represented orindicated by a corresponding indication or indicator, and/or beassociated to or pertain to the data to be transmitted using the one ormore data streams. A level or indication may be indicateddirectly/explicitly, or indirectly/implicitly. A reliability level maybe indicated by, and/or represent, a desired and/or required error rateand/or error probability, for example a Block Error Rate (BLER), and/orindicate a maximum number of errors or some similar. A latency level mayindicate a desired or required latency and/or response speed. Atransmission level may for example be indicated by a quality of servicerequirement and/or indication, and/or the number of data streamsassociated to transmitting the data and/or a transmission mode. Atransmission level may for example indicate Ultra Reliable Low LatencyCommunication (URLLC). There may be defined different transmissionlevels, with several levels of reliability and/or latency. Thecombination indication may be determined based on the transmission levelindicated for the data. Examples of explicit/direct indication compriseone or more combination indicators, e.g. in signaling, e.g. comprisingone or more messages. A combination indication, in particular atransmission level indication, may be provided for, and/or pertain to, abearer and/or logical or transport channel, from which the data streamsmay be provided. The configuration may indicate the transmission level.

A program product comprising instructions causing processing circuitryto control and/or perform any one of the methods described herein isalso disclosed.

Moreover, there is disclosed a carrier medium arrangement carryingand/or storing a program product as disclosed herein.

The approaches presented herein allow flexible reaction to differenttiming structures in the context of acknowledgment signaling processes,in particular for highly delay sensitive use cases (e.g., URLLC). Also,if different numerologies are used, buffer space related to HARQ may besaved, in particular if acknowledgement signaling is transmitted on alow frequency carrier of a carrier aggregation also comprising a highfrequency carrier or a carrier with larger subcarrier spacing and thusrelatively large buffer requirements. For example, acknowledgementsignaling may be provided with lower delay, enabling emptying thebuffers associated to acknowledgment signaling processes quickly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are provided to illustrate concepts and approachesdescribed herein, and are not intended to limit their scope. Thedrawings comprise:

FIG. 1, showing a NR slot;

FIG. 2, showing exemplary mini-slots in a slot;

FIG. 3, showing a PUCCH arrangement in a slot as UL signaling;

FIG. 4, showing carrier aggregation with high and low band carriers;

FIG. 5, showing a configuration for acknowledgement signaling;

FIG. 6, showing another configuration for acknowledgement signaling;

FIG. 7, showing yet another configuration for acknowledgement signaling;

FIG. 8, showing yet another configuration for acknowledgement signaling;

FIG. 9, showing yet another configuration for acknowledgement signaling;

FIG. 10, showing an exemplary terminal or UE;

FIG. 11, showing an exemplary network node like a gNB;

FIG. 12, showing a diagram for a method of operating a UE;

FIG. 13, showing an exemplary UE;

FIG. 14, showing a diagram for a method of operating a network node; and

FIG. 15, showing an exemplary network node.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An NR subframe or slot (as example of a transmission timing structure)consists of several OFDM symbols, according to current agreements either7 or 14 symbols (OFDM subcarrier spacing ≤60 kHz) and 14 symbols (OFDMsubcarrier spacing >60 kHz). FIG. 1 shows a slot or subframe with 14OFDM symbols. In FIG. 1, T_(s) and T_(symb) denote the slot and OFDMsymbol duration, respectively.

In addition to slots, NR also defines mini-slots. Mini-slots are shorterthan slots (according to current agreements from 1 or 2 symbols up tonumber of symbols in a slot minus one) and can start at any symbolwithin a slot. Mini-slots may be used if the transmission duration of aslot is too long or the occurrence of the next slot start (slotalignment) is too late. Applications of mini-slots include among otherslatency critical transmissions (in this case both mini-slot length andfrequent opportunity of mini-slot are important), and use of unlicensedspectrum, where a transmission should start immediately afterlisten-before-talk succeeded (here the frequent opportunity of mini-slotis especially important). An example of mini-slots is shown in FIG. 2.

Numerology is described in the following. NR operating frequency rangeextends from sub-1 GHz to 100 GHz. To cover this wide range of carrierfrequencies, NR supports different OFDM numerologies: More narrowsubcarrier spacing at lower frequencies and wider subcarrier spacing forsmall cells, often at high frequencies. OFDM symbols with narrowsubcarrier spacing are long (in time domain) and also have a long cyclicprefix which is important for deployments in large cells. Widesubcarrier spacing provides robustness towards phase noise and Doppler,which is particularly important at high frequencies. OFDM symbols withwide subcarrier spacing are short in time and thus also have a shortcyclic prefix (given same overhead) which limits them to small cells.OFDM numerologies with wide subcarrier spacing are typically used athigh carrier frequencies (due to phase noise robustness) or in lowlatency applications (due to short symbol duration).

Table 1 lists for some different OFDM numerologies OFDM symbol duration,normal cyclic prefix duration, symbol length incl. cyclic prefix, andslot length (assuming 14 symbols per slot). Additional numerologies tothose shown in Table may be envisioned as well.

OFDM Cyclic Total Subcarrier symbol prefix symbol Slot spacing durationlength duration length in kHz in μs in μs in μs in μs 15 66.67 4.6971.35 1000 30 33.33 2.34 35.68 500 60 16.67 1.17 17.84 250 120 8.33 0.598.92 125

NR will also support mixing of numerologies where different OFDMnumerologies can be mixed on one carrier. One use case could be to usenarrowband subcarrier spacing for MBB and wideband subcarrier spacingfor low latency applications at a low frequency carrier. In large cellsthe wideband numerology potentially requires an extended cyclic prefixto match the delay spread.

Carrier aggregation is described in the following. LTE and also NRsupport carrier aggregation. One expected carrier aggregation scenariofor NR is to aggregate a carrier in low bands (e.g. below 6 GHz) with acarrier in high bands (e.g. mmW bands, for example at 28 or 39 GHz). Thecarrier in the low band could be deployed to cover a wide cell area andwould therefore have a narrow subcarrier spacing. The carrier in the mmWrequires a wide subcarrier spacing for phase noise robustness. Carrieraggregation between carriers with different numerologies is therefore animportant scenario in which the approaches described herein may beimplemented.

An uplink control channel is described in the following. NR will supportdifferent formats of the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). PUCCHcarries Uplink Control Information (UCI) comprising acknowledgementsignaling like HARQ feedback (ACK/NACK), and/or Channel QualityInformation (CQI), and/or Scheduling Request (SR). One of the supportedPUCCH formats is short and occurs at the end of a slot interval, asshown in FIG. 3. This figure shows UE downlink reception and UEtransmission in one figure, the UL is time advanced and thus occursslightly before the slot interval ends.

In a carrier aggregation scenario, acknowledgment signaling, e.g. onPUCCH, may be transmitted in the low band. Propagation conditions areworse in the high band and it could be beneficial to carry controlsignaling in the low band. Similar to the problem with mini-slots, withthe current PUCCH structure, HARQ feedback can only be sent at the endof the slot interval. Low band carriers often operate with a narrowsubcarrier spacing and thus long slots; when HARQ feedback is sent inthe low bands it may occur much later than the corresponding DL slot, asshown in FIG. 4.

The increased roundtrip time may negatively impact throughput, e.g. ifTCP protocol is used and also increases the amount of un-acknowledgeddata a UE has to buffer increasing UE complexity. FIG. 4 shows how, in acarrier aggregation scenario with different numerologies in downlink anduplink, PUCCH is sent in the low band. Low band carrier has long slotsand PUCCH is transmitted much later. This figure only focuses on one DLtransmission and the corresponding HARQ feedback transmission (ACK/NACK,AN); other signaling (other boxes) may contain other transmissions. Theupper row shows a “fast” numerology, in a high band, with a (downlink)slot with duration (length in time domain) T_(S,DL). The lower row showsthe “slow” numerology, with a much longer duration T_(S,UL). The smallintervals indicate the respective symbol time interval underlying theslots.

It is generally suggested that HARQ feedback (ACK/NACK, AN)transmissions are enabled not only at the end of a slot interval butalso at additional time positions within a slot interval, potentially upto every symbol (depending on latency requirements).

The HARQ feedback can be put into a PUCCH that occurs at a symbol withina slot interval. Alternatively, the PUCCH can also be seen astransmitted within a mini-slot (either an uplink mini-slot or as part ofa bi-directional mini-slot). It can even be considered to enable UCI onPUSCH with PUSCH either being part of a mini-slot or a regular slotPUSCH. The HARQ feedback, and/or the (starting) symbol of the HARQfeedback as acknowledgement signaling may be configured to the userequipment.

Advantages also occur if HARQ feedback for OFDM symbols with widesubcarrier spacing (such as high band carrier in carrier aggregationscenario) is carried by OFDM symbols with narrow subcarriers and longsymbols (and thus long slots, e.g. for a low band carrier in carrieraggregation). Even though outlined in the context of carrieraggregation, the approaches herein are not limited to carrieraggregation, but are for example also applicable to scenarios where“slow” numerology (long symbol/slot time interval) is used to providefeedback for “fast” numerology (shorter symbol/slot time interval).

FIG. 5 shows an example that illustrates that ACK/NACK (or more generalHARQ feedback) can be provided in any symbol. This is an extreme case,configurations with less frequent HARQ feedback reporting opportunitiescan of course be envisioned as well. Examples would e.g. be every 2nd or3rd symbol or dense irregular pattern, e.g. symbols 0, 3, 6, 7, 9, 12.FIG. 5 shows that an opportunity for HARQ feedback is provided in everysymbol. A mini-slot is transmitted in downlink symbol 3 in the slotinterval, the corresponding HARQ feedback in uplink symbol 6. In thisexample, the other AN opportunities are not used.

In FIG. 6 the ACK/NACK opportunities are realized by providing PUCCHopportunities every symbol, i.e. ACK/NACK is transported on the PUCCH.Different options on which channels to provide HARQ feedback arediscussed. Specifically, FIG. 6 shows that opportunity for PUCCH isprovided in every symbol. A mini-slot is transmitted in downlink symbol3 in the slot interval, the corresponding HARQ feedback on PUCCH inuplink symbol 6. In this example the other PUCCH opportunities are notused, or could be used for other UCI transmission.

Another example how HARQ feedback opportunities can be providedfrequently is for example using uplink mini-slots. In the example shownin FIG. 7, the downlink mini-slot in symbol 3 is followed by a mini-slotin uplink (in symbol 6) that carries the corresponding HARQ feedback(the mini-slot in uplink represents a second transmission timingstructure overlaid on the uplink slot). In this uplink mini-slot, HARQfeedback can either be provided on PUCCH (e.g., the mini-slot would havea configured PUCCH) or as UCI on PUSCH, i.e. the mini-slot containsPUSCH transmission which contains HARQ feedback (and potentially otherinformation such as user data as well).

The uplink mini-slot can either be a “stand-alone” uplink mini-slot, ora mini-slot may contain a downlink part (the mini-slot in downlinkdirection) together with an uplink part (the mini-slot in uplinktransmission). This is indicated by the dashed ellipse in FIG. 7.

Yet another possibility is to extend the concept of UCI on PUSCH. Here a“regular” PUSCH associated with a slot transmission providesopportunities to insert HARQ feedback at several symbol positions, asshown in FIG. 8. A PUSCH transmission provides opportunities to insertHARQ feedback at several symbols within the PUSCH duration. In the shownexample, HARQ feedback can be inserted every second symbol (dashed), butonly the opportunity in symbol 6 is used.

It may be envisioned to combine more than one or all of the above listedpossibilities, e.g. such that a configuration indicates which approachis selected, or which approaches are to be combined. For example, aPUCCH opportunity may be configured every second symbol, and a terminalcan use also PUSCH (either in a slot or mini-slot). If a UE does nothave any data to transmit, it could select one of the PUCCH resources,while if the terminal also has a PUSCH resources scheduled (either inslot or mini-slot) it could transmit HARQ feedback as UCI on PUSCH.

It should be noted that generally each PUCCH or PUSCH opportunity may beconsidered to represent a (starting) symbol for acknowledgmentsignaling.

Time-domain aspects are discussed in the following.

Another example of frequent HARQ feedback transmissions is shown in FIG.9, corresponding to a carrier aggregation example with the modification,that HARQ feedback can occur in every symbol in the low band (UE, TX,PUCCH). Alternatively, configurations with less dense HARQ feedbackopportunities can be envisioned (a different starting symbol pattern maybe configured). In this example, it may be assumed that HARQ feedback isprovided on PUCCH, and PUCCH opportunities exist every symbol. All theother discussed options to transport HARQ feedback are also applicablehere.

FIG. 9 shows a timing diagram for DL and UL transmissions at transmitterand receiver for carrier aggregation example with differentnumerologies. A PUCCH opportunity exists in every uplink OFDM symbol(or, correspondingly, every SC-FDMA symbol).

In the following, it is assumed that that OFDM symbols and slot countersare restarted at every subframe (which is defined as 1 ms, independentof numerology). A downlink transmission in slot s_DL ends at timet_0=(s_DL+1) T_(s,DL). The earliest uplink OFDM symbol I′ that can carryHARQ feedback for this transmission must fulfill.−TA+l′T _(symb,UL) ≥t ₀ +T _(proc).

Uplink slot and symbol within the slot for the HARQ-carrying PUCCH maybe determined as

$\begin{matrix}{l^{\prime} = {\left\lceil \frac{t_{0} + T_{proc} + {TA}}{T_{{symb},{UL}}} \right\rceil = \left\lceil \frac{{\left( {s_{DL} + 1} \right)T_{s,{DL}}} + T_{proc} + {TA}}{T_{{symb},{UL}}} \right\rceil}} \\{l = {l^{\prime}{mod}\mspace{11mu} N_{s,{UL}}}} \\{s_{UL} = {\left\lfloor \frac{l\;\prime}{N_{s,{UL}}} \right\rfloor.}}\end{matrix}$

In above example, it has been assumed PUCCH can be transmitted in everysymbol. Less dense values of PUCCH can be envisioned as well, leading tocorrespondingly adapted equations.

In above examples, it has been assumed that all uplink symbols haveequal length (T_(symb,UL)) and all downlink symbols have equal length(T_(symb,DL)). Above concepts and formulas can easily be extended to thecase if a slot contains symbols of different lengths. In NR, forexample, the first symbol in an interval of 0.5 ms may have a slightlylonger cyclic prefix than the remaining symbols in the interval. Inabove examples, a one-symbol PUCCH has been assumed. If PUCCH is longerthan a single symbol, above calculations refer to the starting symbol.

In LTE, a timing advance, TA, value is signaled with MAC controlelements from eNB to UE. A similar signaling approach may be consideredfor NR. MAC control element signaling does not provide 100% reliability,and error cases can occur, e.g. the UE may miss timing advance commandsin MAC control elements. In case of error cases, gNB and UE have notexactly the same understanding of TA, and if gNB and UE independentlyapply above formulas, they may determine different slot intervals andsymbols for PUCCH transmission. To avoid such error cases, the gNB mayconfigure the UE based with the specific symbol (or slot and symbol) forthe acknowledgement signaling, e.g. based on determining for a given DL(mini-)slot transmission, the slot interval and symbol of thecorresponding PUCCH transmission and signal the resource/s symbolposition to the UE. This signaling could for example be dynamic (e.g.gNB includes PUCCH resource indicator or information from which PUCCHresource can be derived in scheduling DCI). Alternatively, or inaddition, the gNB may configure—e.g. semi-statically via RRCsignaling—PUCCH resources for a (mini-)slot transmission occurring in agiven downlink slot interval/symbol. This configuration could forexample be a (e.g., single or unique) mapping between slot interval (andsymbols for mini-slots) of downlink transmission and slot interval andsymbols of corresponding PUCCH transmissions. This mapping could also bevariable, e.g. the gNB could configure different mappings and signals(in e.g. the scheduling DCI) which of the configured mapping to use.Such mappings could for example be based on calculations similar toabove equations.

Table 2 shows an example of a variable mapping between downlinktransmission time and PUCCH transmission time. This example assumes 15kHz numerology with normal cyclic prefix and N_(s)=14 symbols per slot.For the UE a processing delay T_(proc)=100 μs is budgeted. The fourconfigurations Conf0 to Conf3 assume max TA values of 40, 110, 250, and667 μs, respectively (with 6, 16.5, 37.5, and 100 km max communicationdistance). Dynamic signaling (e.g. contained in the scheduling DCI)could select one these four configurations.

TABLE 2 Variable mapping between downlink transmission timing ofmini-slots and uplink timing of corresponding PUCCH transmission. PUCCHtransmitted in Mini-slot Conf0 Conf1 Conf2 Conf3 ends in Slot Slot SlotSlot symbol interval Symbol interval Symbol interval Symbol intervalSymbol 0 same 3 same 4 same 6 same 12 1 4 5 7 13 2 5 6 8 next 0 3 6 7 91 4 7 8 10 2 5 8 9 11 3 6 9 10 12 4 7 10 11 13 5 8 11 12 next 0 6 9 1213 1 7 10 13 next 0 2 8 11 next 0 1 3 9 12 1 2 4 10 13 2 3 5 11

In some variants described herein, it is described to enable quick HARQfeedback for downlink transmissions using OFDM numerology with widersubcarrier than uplink transmissions (and thus uplink slots or symbolsare longer than downlink slots or symbols) by providing HARQ feedbackopportunities that do not only exist at the end of a slot interval, butalso within a slot interval according to a configuration. In the extremecase, HARQ feedback resources can be configured for every uplink OFDMsymbol in a slot interval. Possibilities to realize so frequent HARQfeedback opportunities are short PUCCH opportunities (e.g., onlycovering a starting symbol) in multiple symbols (in the extreme case inevery symbol), using e.g. mini-slots for HARQ feedback, or to enableHARQ feedback insertion opportunities at multiple symbols for UCI onPUSCH.

The provided formulas and discussions which node does the determinationof PUCCH resources (both gNB and UE, only gNB and signals resources) aswell as the discussion on frequency-domain resources are additionaldetails, but the basic principle and top level claim are frequent HARQfeedback resources within a slot interval.

FIG. 10 schematically shows a terminal or wireless device 10, which maybe implemented as a UE (User Equipment). Terminal 10 comprisesprocessing circuitry (which may also be referred to as controlcircuitry) 20, which may comprise a controller connected to a memory.Any module of the terminal, e.g. a transmitting module or receivingmodule, may be implemented in and/or executable by, the processingcircuitry 20, in particular as module in the controller. Terminal 10also comprises radio circuitry 22 providing receiving and transmittingor transceiving functionality (e.g., one or more transmitters and/orreceivers and/or transceivers), the radio circuitry 22 being connectedor connectable to the processing circuitry. An antenna circuitry 24 ofthe terminal 10 is connected or connectable to the radio circuitry 22 tocollect or send and/or amplify signals. Radio circuitry 22 and theprocessing circuitry 20 controlling it are configured for cellularcommunication with a network, e.g. a RAN as described herein. Terminal10 may generally be adapted to carry out any of the methods of operatinga terminal or UE disclosed herein; in particular, it may comprisecorresponding circuitry, e.g. processing circuitry, and/or modules.

FIG. 11 schematically show a network node 100, which in particular maybe an eNB, or gNB or similar for NR. Network node 100 comprisesprocessing circuitry (which may also be referred to as controlcircuitry) 120, which may comprise a controller connected to a memory.Any module, e.g. transmitting module and/or receiving module and/orconfiguring module of the network node 100 may be implemented in and/orexecutable by the processing circuitry 120. The processing circuitry 120is connected to control radio circuitry 122 of the radio node 100, whichprovides receiver and transmitter and/or transceiver functionality(e.g., comprising one or more transmitters and/or receivers and/ortransceivers). An antenna circuitry 124 may be connected or connectableto radio circuitry 122 for signal reception or transmittance and/oramplification. The network node 100 may be adapted to carry out any ofthe methods for operating a network node disclosed herein; inparticular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processingcircuitry, and/or modules. The antenna 124 circuitry may be connected toand/or comprise an antenna array. The network node 100, respectively itscircuitry, may be adapted to transmit configuration data and/or toconfigure a terminal as described herein.

FIG. 12 shows a diagram for an exemplary method of operating a userequipment, which may be any of the user equipments described herein. Themethod comprises an action TS10 of receiving first signaling based onthe first transmission timing structure; and an action TS12 oftransmitting acknowledgement signaling pertaining to the first signalingbased on the second transmission timing structure, wherein transmittingthe acknowledgement signaling is started at a starting symbol of thesecond transmission timing structure, the starting symbol beingdetermined based on a configuration of the user equipment.

FIG. 13 shows a schematic of an exemplary user equipment. The userequipment may comprise a receiving module TM10 for performing actionTS10, and a transmitting module TM12 for performing action TS12.

FIG. 14 shows a diagram for an exemplary method of operating a networknode, which may be any of the network nodes described herein, inparticular a gNB or eNB. The method comprises an action NS10 ofconfiguring a user equipment (10) for starting to transmitacknowledgement signaling pertaining to first signaling transmittedbased on the first transmission timing structure at a starting symbol ofthe second transmission timing structure.

FIG. 15 shows a schematic of an exemplary network node. The network nodemay comprise a configuring module NM10 for performing action NS10.

An acknowledgement signaling process may be a process of transmittingand/or retransmitting data, based on acknowledgement signaling, e.g.acknowledgement feedback like HARQ or ARQ feedback. Acknowledgementsignaling may comprise and/or represent acknowledgement information,which may represent an acknowledgment or non-acknowledgement, e.g. ofcorrect reception of the corresponding data or data element, andoptionally may represent an indication of non-reception. In particular,acknowledgment information may represent ARQ (Automatic Repeat request)and/or HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest) feedback. Correctreception may include correct decoding/demodulation, e.g. according toan ARQ or HARQ process, for example based on error detection and/orforward error correction coding, which may be based on a data elementbeing received. Correspondingly, incorrect reception(non-acknowledgement) may refer to detection of an error duringdecoding/demodulating. Non-reception may indicate non-reception of adata element and/or non-reception of an acknowledgement positionindication indicating a mapping pertaining to the data element.Non-reception may for example be indicated by a DTX (DiscontinuousTransmission) indication. It should be noted that there may be DTX oneither side of a communication. The radio node determining and/ortransmitting the acknowledgement signaling may not receive an expecteddata element of a data stream, and indicate this in the acknowledgementsignaling as DTX, allowing more finely grained acknowledgmentinformation. On the other hand, the radio node receiving acknowledgmentsignaling may not receive an expected acknowledgement signal (e.g., inone of the data streams), and treat this as a DTX event. Both kinds ofDTX may be treated separately, e.g. as DTX1 and DTX2 or according to adifferent scheme.

Acknowledgement signaling may be signaling on an uplink control channel,in particular PUCCH, or alternative on an uplink shared channel likePUSCH.

An indication generally may explicitly and/or implicitly indicate theinformation it represents and/or indicates. Implicit indication may forexample be based on position and/or resource used for transmission.Explicit indication may for example be based on a parametrization withone or more parameters, and/or one or more index or indices, and/or oneor more bit patterns representing the information. Acknowledgementsignaling may comprise one or more bits (e.g., for ACK/NACK) for anacknowledgement signaling process, and/or comprise additionalinformation, e.g. indicating that a data element was not received and/orscheduled.

Transmitting acknowledgement signaling may comprise encoding and/ormodulating, Encoding and/or modulating may comprise error detectioncoding and/or forward error correction encoding and/or scrambling.

Transmitting acknowledgement signaling may be based on, and/or comprise,determining acknowledgement information pertaining to the one or moredata elements. Determining such information may comprise performing anARQ and/or HARQ process and/or determining correct reception of the dataelements (and/or considering non-reception). Alternatively, oradditionally, transmitting acknowledgement signaling may comprise and/orbe based on receiving the data, respectively data elements, for examplebased on a configuration, which may be a downlink data configuration.Such a configuration may be configured by a network node. Theconfiguration may (statically and/or dynamically, e.g. in part both) bevalid for one, or more than one, time structure or TTI. However, in somecases, the configuration may be dynamically adapted for each timestructure or TTI, e.g. as configured by a network node.

Acknowledgement signaling may be considered pertaining to downlink dataif it comprises acknowledgement information pertaining to downlink datarespectively the data element/s thereof. Downlink data may generallyrepresent data transmitted on a downlink channel, e.g. subject to one ormore ARQ or HARQ processes. A data element may in particular represent a(e.g., a single) data block (like a transport block), which may beassociated to a specific ARQ/HARQ process. In particular, different datastreams, respectively their data element/s, may be associated todifferent ARQ/HARQ processes (which may run in parallel).

Signaling may generally comprise one or more symbols and/or signalsand/or messages. A signal may comprise one or more bits. An indicationmay represent signaling, and/or be implemented as a signal, or as aplurality of signals. One or more signals may be included in and/orrepresented by a message. Signaling, in particular acknowledgementsignaling, may comprise a plurality of signals and/or messages, whichmay be transmitted on different carriers and/or be associated todifferent acknowledgement signaling processes, e.g. representing and/orpertaining to one or more such processes. An indication, in particular acombination indication, may comprise signaling and/or a plurality ofsignals and/or messages, which may be transmitted on different carriersand/or be associated to different acknowledgement signaling processes,e.g. representing and/or pertaining to one or more such processes.

A radio node may generally be considered a device or node adapted forwireless and/or radio (and/or microwave) frequency communication, and/orfor communication utilizing an air interface, e.g. according to acommunication standard.

A radio node may be a network node, or a user equipment or terminal. Anetwork node may be any radio node of a wireless communication network,e.g. a base station and/or gNodeB (gNB) and/or relay node and/ormicro/nano/pico/femto node and/or other node, in particular for a RAN asdescribed herein.

The terms wireless device, user equipment (UE) and terminal may beconsidered to be interchangeable in the context of this disclosure. Awireless device, user equipment or terminal may represent and end devicefor communication utilizing the wireless communication network, and/orbe implemented as a user equipment according to a standard. Examples ofuser equipments may comprise a phone like a smartphone, a personalcommunication device, a mobile phone or terminal, a computer, inparticular laptop, a sensor or machine with radio capability (and/oradapted for the air interface), in particular for MTC(Machine-Type-Communication, sometimes also referred to M2M,Machine-To-Machine), or a vehicle adapted for wireless communication. Auser equipment or terminal may be mobile or stationary.

A radio node may generally comprise processing circuitry and/or radiocircuitry. Circuitry may comprise integrated circuitry. Processingcircuitry may comprise one or more processors and/or controllers (e.g.,microcontrollers), and/or ASICs (Application Specific IntegratedCircuitry) and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array), or similar. Itmay be considered that processing circuitry comprises, and/or is(operatively) connected or connectable to one or more memories or memoryarrangements. A memory arrangement may comprise one or more memories. Amemory may be adapted to store digital information. Examples formemories comprise volatile and non-volatile memory, and/or Random AccessMemory (RAM), and/or Read-Only-Memory (ROM), and/or magnetic and/oroptical memory, and/or flash memory, and/or hard disk memory, and/orEPROM or EEPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM or Electrically ErasableProgrammable ROM). Radio circuitry may comprise one or more transmittersand/or receivers and/or transceivers (a transceiver may operate or beoperable as transmitter and receiver), and/or may comprise one or moreamplifiers and/or oscillators and/or filters, and/or may comprise,and/or be connected or connectable to antenna circuitry and/or one ormore antennas.

Any one or all of the modules disclosed herein may be implemented insoftware and/or firmware and/or hardware. Different modules may beassociated to different components of a radio node, e.g. differentcircuitries or different parts of a circuitry. It may be considered thata module is distributed over different components and/or circuitries.

A radio access network may be a wireless communication network, and/or aRadio Access Network (RAN) in particular according to a communicationstandard. A communication standard may in particular a standardaccording to 3GPP and/or 5G, e.g. according to NR or LTE, in particularLTE Evolution.

Error coding may comprise for example error detection coding (EDC)and/or forward error coding (FEC). Error coding may generally be handled(e.g., encoded and/or decoded) by processing circuitry of a radio node.

The coding (for error correction) and/or the error detection bits may beprovided by performing error detection coding, in particular encoding,the size of the coding may represent or correspond to the number oferror detection bits and may be referred to as coding length or errordetection coding length. Error detection coding, in particular encoding,may be performed by a transmitting node and/or an EDC encoding module ofthe transmitting node. A coding may be represented by one or more codesand/or algorithm to be performed when coding. A coding for decoding maybe complementary to a corresponding coding for encoding (and viceversa).

Analogously, the correction coding and/or the error correction bits maybe provided by performing (forward) error correction coding, inparticular encoding, the size of the coding may represent or correspondto the number of error correction bits and may be referred to ascorrection coding length or error correction coding length. Forwarderror correction coding, in particular encoding, may be performed by atransmitting node and/or an FEC encoding module of the transmittingnode.

Encoding for error detection may comprise determining and/or calculatingone or more EDC bits, in particular a predetermined number of EDC bits(corresponding to the coding length) and/or according to a chosenalgorithm. In particular, encoding for error detection may compriseutilizing a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) algorithm.

Encoding for forward error correction may comprise determining and/orcalculating one or more FEC bits, in particular a predetermined numberof FEC bits (corresponding to the correction coding length) and/oraccording to a chosen algorithm. In particular, encoding for forwarderror correction may comprise utilizing an error correcting algorithm orcode, e.g. a convolutional code and/or a Hamming code and/orReed-Solomon code and/or a Reed-Muller code and/or a turbo code, or anyother suitable FEC code.

Decoding (for error detection coded data and analogously for FEC encodeddata) may comprise utilizing a coding for decoding error encoded data,wherein the coding in particular may have a coding length. The codingmay be configured, e.g. by a transmission node, and/or bepre-determined. Decoding error detection coding may comprise determiningwhether (or not) an error occurred when transmitting and/or decoding thedata. Decoding error detection decoding and/or such determining maycomprise determining a probability that one or more errors occurred(and/or a probability, that no error occurred), based on the errordetection coding. This decoding may comprise comparing the probability(and/or corresponding parameter/s or a set of parameters) with athreshold (or corresponding threshold value). Decoding may be based onone or more data elements representing the same data, e.g. of the samedata stream and/or of different data streams, e.g. as indicated by thecombination indication.

In general, acknowledgement may be indicated by the acknowledgmentsignaling comprising one or more acknowledgment signals or bits (ACK),the number of such signals may be dependent on the use case, and/or byacknowledgement signaling representing and/or comprising one out of aset of acknowledgement combinations. Non-acknowledgement may beindicated by acknowledgement signaling representing and/or comprisingone out of a set of non-acknowledgment combinations. The sets may besubsets of the set of all possible combinations of acknowledgementsignals transmitted for a plurality of processes and/or data streams.Each signal may for example indicate ACK or NACK (or one or more otherstates, e.g. DTX) for associated process/es, and each combination maycomprise more than one such signal. Which combination/s represent/sacknowledgement (indicating new data elements to be transmitted), andwhich non-acknowledgment (indicating retransmission) may bepreconfigured (e.g., by higher-layer signaling) and/or predefined (e.g.,according to a standard).

In the context of this disclosure, HARQ ACK/NACK (acknowledge for acorrectly received block of data, not acknowledged for a not correctlyreceived block of data) feedback may refer to feedback (e.g. acorresponding signal transmitted, which may comprise 1 or more bits)provided (e.g. on the UL) by a terminal, e.g. to a network or networknode in response to data transmitted to it (e.g. on the DL). HARQACK/NACK information or feedback (or shorter HARQ-ACK information orfeedback or HARQ information or feedback or just HARQ) may includetransmitting a signal/bit indicating whether a transport block of datareceived by the terminal has been receiver correctly or not. HARQ and/ordetermining HARQ may include decoding and/or error detection proceduresto determine correct reception. There may be defined a number of HARQprocesses with associated HARQ ids or numbers, which may refer toindividual data streams and/or associated data elements; a HARQ responseor feedback from a terminal (e.g. a HARQ bit) may be associated to oneof the HARQ processes or ids. In some variant, HARQ feedback maycomprise one bit per DL carrier; in other variant, HARQ feedback maycomprise two (or more than two) bits per carrier, e.g. dependent on therank used. Generally, HARQ feedback may be transmitted (and/ordetermined, e.g. based on received signals and/or transport blocksand/or data and/or HARQ process identifiers) by a terminal, and/or aterminal may be adapted for, and/or comprise a HARQ module for,determining (e.g., as mentioned above) and/or transmitting HARQfeedback, in particular based on and/or using a configuration and/or amodulation configured, e.g. a modulation determined and/or configured asdescribed herein. Transmitting HARQ may generally be performed on a ULcontrol channel, e.g. PUCCH.

There is generally considered a program product comprising instructionsadapted for causing processing and/or control circuitry to carry outand/or control any method described herein, in particular when executedon the processing and/or control circuitry. Also, there is considered acarrier medium arrangement carrying and/or storing a program product asdescribed herein.

A carrier medium arrangement may comprise one or more carrier media.Generally, a carrier medium may be accessible and/or readable and/orreceivable by processing or control circuitry. Storing data and/or aprogram product and/or code may be seen as part of carrying data and/ora program product and/or code. A carrier medium generally may comprise aguiding/transporting medium and/or a storage medium. Aguiding/transporting medium may be adapted to carry and/or carry and/orstore signals, in particular electromagnetic signals and/or electricalsignals and/or magnetic signals and/or optical signals. A carriermedium, in particular a guiding/transporting medium, may be adapted toguide such signals to carry them. A carrier medium, in particular aguiding/transporting medium, may comprise the electromagnetic field,e.g. radio waves or microwaves, and/or optically transmissive material,e.g. glass fiber, and/or cable. A storage medium may comprise at leastone of a memory, which may be volatile or non-volatile, a buffer, acache, an optical disc, magnetic memory, flash memory, etc.

A wireless communication network may be and/or comprise a Radio AccessNetwork (RAN), which may be and/or comprise any kind of cellular and/orwireless radio network, which may be connected or connectable to a corenetwork. The approaches described herein are particularly suitable for a5G network, e.g. LTE Evolution and/or NR (New Radio), respectivelysuccessors thereof. A RAN may comprise one or more network nodes. Anetwork node may in particular be a radio node adapted for radio and/orwireless and/or cellular communication with one or more terminals. Aterminal may be any device adapted for radio and/or wireless and/orcellular communication with or within a RAN, e.g. a user equipment (UE)or mobile phone or smartphone or computing device or vehicularcommunication device or device for machine-type-communication (MTC),etc. A terminal may be mobile, or in some cases stationary.

Transmitting in downlink may pertain to transmission from the network ornetwork node to the terminal. Transmitting in uplink may pertain totransmission from the terminal to the network or network node.

Signaling may generally comprise one or more signals and/or one or moresymbols. Reference signaling may comprise one or more reference signalsor symbols.

A resource element may generally describe the smallest individuallyusable and/or encodable and/or decodable and/or modulatable and/ordemodulatable time-frequency resource, and/or may describe atime-frequency resource covering a symbol time length in time and asubcarrier in frequency. A signal may be allocatable and/or allocated toa resource element. A subcarrier may be a subband of a carrier, e.g. asdefined by a standard. A carrier may define a frequency and/or frequencyband for transmission and/or reception. In some variants, a signal(jointly encoded/modulated) may cover more than one resource elements. Aresource element may generally be as defined by a correspondingstandard, e.g. NR or LTE.

A resource generally may represent a time-frequency resource, on whichsignaling according to a specific format may be transmitted and/or beintended for transmission. The format may comprise one or moresubstructures, which may be considered to represent a correspondingsub-resource (as they would be transmitted in a part of the resource).

Control information or a control information message or correspondingsignaling may be transmitted on a control channel, e.g. a physicalcontrol channel, which may be a downlink channel or uplink channel. Forexample, the combination indication may be signaled by a network node onPDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) and/or a PDSCH (PhysicalDownlink Shared Channel) and/or a HARQ-specific channel. Acknowledgementsignaling may be transmitted by a terminal on a PUCCH (Physical UplinkControl Channel) and/or PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel) and/or aHARQ-specific channel. Multiple channels may apply formulti-component/multi-carrier indication or signaling.

A transmission timing structure may be a transmission time interval. Theterm transmission time interval (TTI) may in this context correspond toany time period over which a physical channel can be encoded andoptionally interleaved for transmission. The physical channel may bedecoded by the receiver over the same time period (TO) over which it wasencoded. Examples of TTI comprise short TTI (sTTI), transmission time,slot, sub-slot, mini-slot, mini-subframe etc. A TTI may comprise a oneor more symbol time intervals, and/or one or two slot time intervals,wherein e.g. 7 or 14 symbol time intervals may correspond to a slot timeinterval. Time interval-related terms may be considered to follow 3GPPnomenclature. A mini-slot or shortened slot or short TTI may correspondto a plurality of symbol time intervals, e.g. 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7symbol time intervals.

Configuring a radio node, in particular a terminal or user equipment,may refer to the radio node being adapted or caused or set to operateaccording to the configuration. Configuring may be done by anotherdevice, e.g., a network node (for example, a radio node of the networklike a base station or eNodeB) or network, in which case it may comprisetransmitting configuration data to the radio node to be configured. Suchconfiguration data may represent the configuration to be configuredand/or comprise one or more instruction pertaining to a configuration,e.g., regarding one or more transmission timing structures and/orscheduled first signaling (e.g., data transmission) and/or the startingsymbol. A radio node may configure itself, e.g., based on configurationdata received from a network or network node. A network node mayutilize, and/or be adapted to utilize, its circuitry/ies forconfiguring.

Generally, configuring may include determining configuration datarepresenting the configuration and providing it to one or more othernodes (parallel and/or sequentially), which may transmit it further tothe radio node (or another node, which may be repeated until it reachesthe wireless device). Alternatively, or additionally, configuring aradio node, e.g., by a network node or other device, may includereceiving configuration data and/or data pertaining to configurationdata, e.g., from another node like a network node, which may be ahigher-level node of the network, and/or transmitting receivedconfiguration data to the radio node. Accordingly, determining aconfiguration and transmitting the configuration data to the radio nodemay be performed by different network nodes or entities, which may beable to communicate via a suitable interface, e.g., an X2 interface inthe case of LTE or a corresponding interface for NR. Configuring aterminal may comprise scheduling downlink and/or uplink transmissionsfor the terminal, e.g. downlink data and/or downlink control signalingand/or DCI and/or uplink signaling, in particular acknowledgementsignaling, and/or configuring resources and/or a resource pool therefor.

A carrier may generally represent a frequency range or band. It may beconsidered that a carrier comprises a plurality of subcarriers. Acarrier may have assigned to it a central frequency or center frequencyinterval, e.g. represented by one or more subcarriers (to eachsubcarrier there may be generally assigned a frequency bandwidth orinterval). Different carriers may be non-overlapping, and/or may beneighboring in frequency space.

It should be noted that the term “radio” in this disclosure may beconsidered to pertain to wireless communication in general, and may alsoinclude wireless communication utilizing microwave frequencies.

A radio node, in particular a network node or a terminal, may generallybe any device adapted for transmitting and/or receiving radio and/orwireless signals and/or data, in particular communication data, inparticular on at least one carrier. The at least one carrier maycomprise a carrier accessed based on a LBT procedure (which may becalled LBT carrier), e.g., an unlicensed carrier. It may be consideredthat the carrier is part of a carrier aggregate.

Receiving or transmitting on a cell or carrier may refer to receiving ortransmitting utilizing a frequency (band) or spectrum associated to thecell or carrier. A cell may generally comprise and/or be defined by orfor one or more carriers, in particular at least one carrier for ULcommunication/transmission (called UL carrier) and at least one carrierfor DL communication/transmission (called DL carrier). It may beconsidered that a cell comprises different numbers of UL carriers and DLcarriers. Alternatively, or additionally, a cell may comprise at leastone carrier for UL communication/transmission and DLcommunication/transmission, e.g., in TDD-based approaches.

A channel may generally be a logical, transport or physical channel. Achannel may comprise and/or be arranged on one or more carriers, inparticular a plurality of subcarriers.

In general, a symbol may represent and/or be associated to a symbol timelength, which may be dependent on the carrier and/or subcarrier spacingand/or numerology of the associated carrier. Accordingly, a symbol maybe considered to indicate a time interval having a symbol time length inrelation to frequency domain.

A sidelink may generally represent a communication channel (or channelstructure) between two UEs and/or terminals, in which data istransmitted between the participants (UEs and/or terminals) via thecommunication channel, e.g. directly and/or without being relayed via anetwork node. A sidelink may be established only and/or directly via airinterface/s of the participant, which may be directly linked via thesidelink communication channel. In some variants, sidelink communicationmay be performed without interaction by a network node, e.g. on fixedlydefined resources and/or on resources negotiated between theparticipants. Alternatively, or additionally, it may be considered thata network node provides some control functionality, e.g. by configuringresources, in particular one or more resource pool/s, for sidelinkcommunication, and/or monitoring a sidelink, e.g. for charging purposes.

Sidelink communication may also be referred to as device-to-device (D2D)communication, and/or in some cases as ProSe (Proximity Services)communication, e.g. in the context of LTE. A sidelink may be implementedin the context of V2x communication (Vehicular communication), e.g. V2V(Vehicle-to-Vehicle), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) and/or V2P(Vehicle-to-Person). Any device adapted for sidelink communication maybe considered a user equipment or terminal.

A sidelink communication channel (or structure) may comprise one or more(e.g., physical or logical) channels, e.g. a PSCCH (Physical SidelinkControl CHannel, which may for example carry control information like anacknowledgement position indication, and/or a PSSCH (Physical SidelinkShared CHannel, which for example may carry data and/or acknowledgementsignaling). It may be considered that a sidelink communication channel(or structure) pertains to and/or used one or more carrier/s and/orfrequency range/s associated to, and/or being used by, cellularcommunication, e.g. according to a specific license and/or standard.Participants may share a (physical) channel and/or resources, inparticular in frequency space and/or related to a frequency resourcelike a carrier) of a sidelink, such that two or more participantstransmit thereon, e.g. simultaneously, and/or time-shifted, and/or theremay be associated specific channels and/or resources to specificparticipants, so that for example only one participant transmits on aspecific channel or on a specific resource or specific resources, e.g.,in frequency space and/or related to one or more carriers orsubcarriers.

A sidelink may comply with, and/or be implemented according to, aspecific standard, e.g. a LTE-based standard and/or NR. A sidelink mayutilize TDD (Time Division Duplex) and/or FDD (Frequency DivisionDuplex) technology, e.g. as configured by a network node, and/orpreconfigured and/or negotiated between the participants. A userequipment may be considered to be adapted for sidelink communication ifit, and/or its radio circuitry and/or processing circuitry, is adaptedfor utilizing a sidelink, e.g. on one or more frequency ranges and/orcarriers and/or in one or more formats, in particular according to aspecific standard. It may be generally considered that a Radio AccessNetwork is defined by two participants of a sidelink communication.Alternatively, or additionally, a Radio Access Network may berepresented, and/or defined with, and/or be related to a network nodeand/or communication with such a node.

Communication or communicating may generally comprise transmittingand/or receiving signaling. Communication on a sidelink (or sidelinksignaling) may comprise utilizing the sidelink for communication(respectively, for signaling). Sidelink transmission and/or transmittingon a sidelink may be considered to comprise transmission utilizing thesidelink, e.g. associated resources and/or transmission formats and/orcircuitry and/or the air interface. Sidelink reception and/or receivingon a sidelink may be considered to comprise reception utilizing thesidelink, e.g. associated resources and/or transmission formats and/orcircuitry and/or the air interface. Sidelink control information (e.g.,SCI) may generally be considered to comprise control informationtransmitted utilizing a sidelink. Acknowledgement signaling, as well assignaling of an acknowledgement position indication may be consideredexamples of SCI, albeit in different directions of communication betweenparticipants. In particular, acknowledgement signaling may be consideredto be in response to other control signaling (e.g., configuring controlsignaling), and thus be referred to as response control signaling.Configuring control signaling generally may configure a UE, e.g.schedule resources and/or a resource pool. Signaling of anacknowledgment position indication may be considered an example ofconfiguring control signaling.

Generally, carrier aggregation (CA) may refer to the concept of a radioconnection and/or communication link between a wireless and/or cellularcommunication network and/or network node and a terminal or on asidelink comprising a plurality of carriers for at least one directionof transmission (e.g. DL and/or UL), as well as to the aggregate ofcarriers. A corresponding communication link may be referred to ascarrier aggregated communication link or CA communication link; carriersin a carrier aggregate may be referred to as component carriers (CC). Insuch a link, data may be transmitted over more than one of the carriersand/or all the carriers of the carrier aggregation (the aggregate ofcarriers). A carrier aggregation may comprise one (or more) dedicatedcontrol carriers and/or primary carriers (which may e.g. be referred toas primary component carrier or PCC), over which control information maybe transmitted, wherein the control information may refer to the primarycarrier and other carriers, which may be referred to as secondarycarriers (or secondary component carrier, SCC). However, in someapproaches, control information may be sent over more than one carrierof an aggregate, e.g. one or more PCCs and one PCC and one or more SCCs.

In this disclosure, for purposes of explanation and not limitation,specific details are set forth (such as particular network functions,processes and signaling steps) in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the technique presented herein. It will be apparent toone skilled in the art that the present concepts and aspects may bepracticed in other variants and variants that depart from these specificdetails.

For example, the concepts and variants are partially described in thecontext of Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) or NextRadio mobile or wireless communications technologies; however, this doesnot rule out the use of the present concepts and aspects in connectionwith additional or alternative mobile communication technologies such asthe Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). While the followingvariants will partially be described with respect to certain TechnicalSpecifications (TSs) of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP),it will be appreciated that the present concepts and aspects could alsobe realized in connection with different Performance Management (PM)specifications.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the services,functions and steps explained herein may be implemented using softwarefunctioning in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor, or using anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or generalpurpose computer. It will also be appreciated that while the variantsdescribed herein are elucidated in the context of methods and devices,the concepts and aspects presented herein may also be embodied in aprogram product as well as in a system comprising control circuitry,e.g. a computer processor and a memory coupled to the processor, whereinthe memory is encoded with one or more programs or program products thatexecute the services, functions and steps disclosed herein.

It is believed that the advantages of the aspects and variants presentedherein will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and itwill be apparent that various changes may be made in the form,constructions and arrangement of the exemplary aspects thereof withoutdeparting from the scope of the concepts and aspects described herein orwithout sacrificing all of its advantageous effects. The aspectspresented herein can be varied in many ways.

Some useful abbreviations comprise:

Abbreviation Explanation ACK Acknowledgement CQI Channel QualityInformation DCI Downlink Control Information DL Downlink mmW MillimeterWave MAC Medium Access Control NACK Negative Acknowledgement OFDMOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex PUCCH Physical Uplink ControlChannel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel RRC Radio Resource ControlRX Reception, Receiving/Receiver SR Scheduling Request TCP TransmissionConvergence Protocol TX Transmission, Transmitting/Transmitter UCIUplink Control Information UL Uplink

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE)in a New Radio (NR) Radio Access Network, the method comprising:receiving first signaling in a first slot; and transmitting HybridAcknowledgement Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback pertaining to the firstsignaling in a second slot on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH);the HARQ feedback transmission starting at a starting symbol in thesecond slot and extending in time over more than one symbol; thestarting symbol being determined based on a configuration of the UEindicating a starting symbol pattern; the starting symbol patternindicating a plurality of symbols available for starting transmission ofacknowledgement signaling in the second slot, the starting symbol of theHARQ feedback being one of the symbols of the starting symbol pattern;and the starting symbol of the HARQ feedback being configured to the UEwith Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling indicating which one of thesymbols of the starting symbol pattern to use as the starting symbol. 2.The method according to claim 1, wherein the first slot and the secondslot pertain to the same numerology.
 3. The method according to claim 1,wherein the first slot and the second slot pertain to differentnumerologies.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first slotis shorter in time domain than the second slot.
 5. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the first slot is overlapping, in time, with thesecond slot.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the startingsymbol pattern indicates symbols available less dense than at everysymbol in the second slot.
 7. A user equipment (UE) for a New Radio (NR)Radio Access Network, the UE comprising processing circuitry and radiocircuitry and being configured to utilize the processing circuitry andradio circuitry to: receive first signaling in a first slot; andtransmit Hybrid Acknowledgement Repeat Request (HARQ) feedbackpertaining to the first signaling in a second slot on a Physical UplinkControl Channel (PUCCH); the HARQ feedback transmission starting at astarting symbol in the second slot and extending in time over more thanone symbol; the starting symbol being determined based on aconfiguration of the UE indicating a starting symbol pattern; thestarting symbol pattern indicating a plurality of symbols available forstarting transmission of acknowledgement signaling in the second slot,the starting symbol of the HARQ feedback being one of the symbols of thestarting symbol pattern; and the starting symbol of the HARQ feedbackbeing configured to the UE with Radio Resource Control (RRC) signalingindicating which one of the symbols of the starting symbol pattern touse as the starting symbol.
 8. The user equipment according to claim 7,wherein the first slot and the second slot pertain to the samenumerology.
 9. The user equipment according to claim 7, wherein thefirst slot and the second slot pertain to different numerologies. 10.The user equipment according to claim 9, wherein the first slot isshorter in time domain than the second slot.
 11. The user equipmentaccording to claim 7, wherein the first slot is overlapping, in time,with the second slot.
 12. The user equipment according to claim 7,wherein the starting symbol pattern indicates symbols available lessdense than at every symbol in the second slot.
 13. A network node for aNew Radio (NR) Radio Access Network, the network node comprisingprocessing circuitry and radio circuitry and being configured to utilizethe processing circuitry and radio circuitry to: transmit, to a userequipment (UE), first signaling in a first slot; and receive, from theUE, Hybrid Acknowledgement Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback pertaining tothe first signaling in a second slot on a Physical Uplink ControlChannel (PUCCH); the HARQ feedback transmission starting at a startingsymbol in the second slot and extending in time over more than onesymbol; the starting symbol being determined based on a configuration ofthe UE indicating a starting symbol pattern; the starting symbol patternindicating a plurality of symbols available for starting transmission ofacknowledgement signaling in the second slot, the starting symbol of theHARQ feedback being one of the symbols of the starting symbol pattern;and the starting symbol of the HARQ feedback being configured to the UE,by the network node, with Radio Resource Control (RRC) signalingindicating which one of the symbols of the starting symbol pattern touse as the starting symbol.
 14. The network node according to claim 13,wherein the first slot and the second slot pertain to the samenumerology.
 15. The network node according to claim 13, wherein thefirst slot and the second slot pertain to different numerologies. 16.The network node according to claim 15, wherein the first slot isshorter in time domain than the second slot.
 17. The network nodeaccording to claim 13, wherein the first slot is overlapping, in time,with the second slot.
 18. The network node according to claim 13,wherein the starting symbol pattern indicates symbols available lessdense than at every symbol in the second slot.